PROTOCOL ON GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT PREAMBLE We, the Heads of State or Government of: The Republic of Angola The Republic of Botswana The Democratic Republic of Congo The Kingdom of Lesotho The Republic of Madagascar The Republic of Malawi The Republic of Mauritius The Republic of Mozambique The Republic of Namibia The Republic of South Africa The Kingdom of Swaziland The United Republic of Tanzania The Republic of Zambia The Republic of Zimbabwe CONVINCED that the integration and mainstreaming of gender issues into the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Programme of Action and Community Building Initiatives is key to the sustainable development of the SADC region; NOTING that Member States undertook, in the SADC Treaty (Article 6(2)), not to discriminate against any person on the grounds of, inter alia, sex or gender; NOTING further that all SADC Member States are convinced that gender equality and equity is a fundamental human right and are committed to gender equality and equity and have signed and ratified or acceded to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; RECALLING that Member States reaffirmed their commitment to the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies (1985); Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989); the Africa Platform of Action; the Beijing Declaration and its Platform for Action (1995); and United Nations Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (2000); and resolved, through the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development (1997) and its Addendum on the Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women and Children (1998); to ensure the elimination of all gender inequalities in the region and the promotion of the full and equal enjoyment of rights; TAKING COGNISANCE of the decision on gender parity taken at the inaugural session of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government in July 2002 in Durban, South Africa, and the adoption of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of